Treat an advertised walking time as an estimate
A listing’s walking time may start at a particular station exit and assume a pace that does not suit you. It may exclude time inside the station, road crossings, stairs or finding the entrance. Check the actual route rather than relying on the advertised number.
The station is not a point
A large Seoul station is an underground structure several hundred metres long with exits scattered across every corner above it. Gangnam Station has twelve — eight run by Seoul Metro and four added when the Sinbundang Line opened. Seoul Station has sixteen, numbered to 15 plus a 9-1 added for the bus interchange, so counting the signs misleads you. Hongik University Station has nine, split between three operators. Gangnam's exits are in two different neighbourhoods — 1–4, 11 and 12 in Yeoksam-dong, 5–10 in Seocho-dong — and City Hall does the same), with two of its twelve exits in Myeongdong (central Seoul's main shopping street, and its cosmetics district). Getting from one exit to another takes time: once through the ticket gate, changing your mind means walking the length of the concourse. “Subway exit numbers and why they are the address” covers this properly — read it before the first day, not after. Use the operator’s station map to check the exit and lift locations for your journey.
Check for hills and stairs
A flat map of 400 metres can be a climb. Seoul publishes the evidence in an unlikely place: its programme to install lifts on steep residential slopes, whose five sites chosen in 2025 are all near stations and all walked as staircases today:
| Where | The staircase being replaced |
|---|---|
| Sungin-dong, by Changsin Station | 115 m long, over 30 degrees |
| Sindang-dong, below Namsan | 113 m long, over 33 degrees |
| Junggok-dong (무지개계단) | 37 degrees |
| Bongcheon-dong, by Bongcheon Station | residents detour over 200 m to avoid it |
That last line is the one to hold on to: a 200-metre detour to avoid a staircase, from a station, is exactly the gap between a map's five minutes and a body's ten. The neighbourhoods where this bites are the ones visitors like — Haebangchon and the upper streets of Itaewon on Namsan's southern flank, Ihwa and Changsin on the slope below the old city wall, Buam-dong behind the palaces. A view does not tell you how accessible the entrance is. Ask whether the route involves steps, slopes or a lift.
The last stretch is not a straight line
Seoul's big roads are eight and ten lanes wide, and you cross them where the crossing is, not where you want to be. Underpasses and underground arcades add distance in exchange for shelter: the Seoul Facilities Corporation's network runs 25 arcades with 2,788 shops, and some passages provide sheltered walking routes. Check the specific passage’s access hours, stairs and lifts before relying on it.
Use the building number to confirm the destination
Compare the number on the building plate with the address you saved. Building numbers can help you orient yourself, but they do not measure the remaining walk or identify the correct entrance. Use a walking route and, if possible, a photograph of the door. “Your hotel’s Korean address and how to show it” explains which details to save.
What to do before you book
- Save the accommodation’s Korean address as well as its English details.
- Open Naver Map or KakaoMap and paste it in. Check that the app provides a usable walking route for this journey.
- Route it from the exit, not the station. Both apps let you set a specific exit as the start point, and both give the exit number in their directions. That one change is the difference between a real number and a hopeful one.
- Look at the satellite view for retaining walls and staircases.
- Allow extra time for luggage, crossings and finding the entrance. There is no fixed multiplier that suits every route or traveller.
If you are arriving late, do the routing before you fly — “I land at Incheon at 23:40 — how do I get in?” is the night this matters most.
